Content Catnip

Travel: What remains, Berlin

Every Picture Tells a Story: What remains

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 parts of it remained up as a monument to the dangers of state control. On these remnants of the Berlin Wall are a series of constantly changing murals and street art which makes a statement about the current political state of the world. Some of them simply are designed to look beautiful and provide pleasure to the eye while other murals have a distinct political bent to them. I loved visiting the Berlin Wall while I was there and checking out the latest pieces. It’s a photogenic and iconic piece of history.

In some ways it’s like putting lipstick on a pig, making something that once represented division and communism changed into an art monument. This is great though in my opinion, it means that new meanings can come out of it.

I think in these troubled times when fuckwits like Donald Trump want to build up walls, we have to remember the lessons of history and how walls were once heroically destroyed and what that moment meant for the world. Only when walls come down do to civilisations grow and prosper, never when they are erected.

Travel: What remains, Berlin — Copyright Content Catnip 2010

Creativity: Keep the Channel Open by Martha Graham

Creativity: Keep the Channel by Martha Graham

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.

Martha Graham

Book Review: The Book That Takes Its Time, An Unhurried Adventure in Mindfulness

Part workbook, part guide and part creative journal, The Book That Takes Its Time, An Unhurried Adventure in Mindfulness is a hardcover containing paper-based goodies, such as booklets, postcards and whimsical little notes you can write to yourself.

Written by Irene Smit and Astrid Van Der Hulst, the creative directors of cult creative magazine Flow, The Book That Takes Its Time, An Unhurried Adventure in Mindfulness has embossed and engraved drawings on the cover and exquisite illustration and typography throughout. Unlike the Book for Paper Lovers or the Flow Mindfulness Workbook, this book has a lot of text, which lends it more of a novel-like feel. The exquisite illustration makes it highly collectible.

As it proclaims on the cover, the contents are separately into chapters which celebrate slow living. There is a Joy of One Thing at a Time Notebook” tucked into the pages. Following their piece on the power of slowing down, there are cut-out designer notecards for creating a Beautiful Moments jar. You can also delve into your Beginner’s Mind and embrace a writing cure.

Flow magazine, originates in the Netherlands and has French, Dutch, English and German language versions. There is a reason that Flow’s formula for paper based goodies works so well in the digital age where paper magazines are going bust left right and centre.

The Flow Book for Paper Lovers 5

The Flow Book for Paper Lovers is likewise another treasure worth mentioning. It’s a highly collectible book that you will want to keep forever and contains an abundance of paper goodies like note books, postcards, paper dolls, buntings, 3d mobiles, pop up dioramas and so forth. It’s the whimsical, dreamy retreat from the world, where arty and quirky types such as myself can enjoy the pure pursuits of playful creativity.

I created a whole series of creative projects out of this book including dioramas, mobiles, affirmation cards, postcards, collages and paintings.

There is something overwhelmingly positive, wholesome and joyful about Flow. In the short space of a few years, the Flow magazine series has expanded to incorporate special editions such as the Flow Book for Paper Lovers and the Flow 19 Days for Mindfulness, among many others. Their books and magazines give adults the permission they need to be mindful and to take a breather from their busy lives.

Whenever I pick up and read the FLOW magazines and books I get the feeling that I’m treating myself to some much needed self-love and inner nourishment.

If you have never heard of Flow magazine, then I recommend you try and hunt it down at your local specialty bookstore or newsagent. They may be able to order it in for you. I’ve tried to order the magazine and special editions online but have found that postage from the Netherlands is prohibitively expensive.

You can find this book online at Book Depository

Style inspiration: 90’s era Denise Huxtable

Lisa Bonet aka Denise Huxtable from the Cosby Show was a 80’s and 90’s style maven who had a timeless way of pulling together an outfit and then carrying it off with poise and grace. Her funky and unusual fashion choices left a mark on many young women of that era (including me). Her hair was ever-changing and ranged from free flowing curly locks to short, shaven and cropped into a gamine pixie cut. As an African American or mixed race teenager, Denise Huxtable gave prominence to a rarely seen on TV (in those days) form of female beauty – of brown or latte coloured skin and curly, unruly hair. As a child seeing a girl of mixed race on TV I found this comforting and reassuring that I wasn’t the only one. Her choice of earrings, jewellry and makeup were always on point. She was a style icon and continues to inspire many fashion conscious young women with her unique blend of African inspired hats, slouchy jumpers, romantic jewellery and fresh make up.

Every Picture Tells a Story: Nico in Paris 1960

This photograph was taken by Mark Shaw for LIFE Magazine in 1960. It features elegant couture, art and decadent modernist Parisian interiors. Nico is posing with a pair of dachshunds in the apartment of legendary Parisian interior designer Henry Samuel. Nico was a young model before she became famous. She went on to be the lead chanteuse of the experimental band The Velvet Underground.

Product Review: Organic Cotton Oi Cup™ Medium

If you are a woman of child-bearing age then read on. If you’re not fitting into that category then perhaps you may want to skip this one. Unless you’re a grown man who doesn’t get funny when reading about periods and would like to buy your wife, partner or daughter a gift then read on.

The Oi Cup™ is the New Zealand version of the popular MoonCup. This is essentially a device which acts in the same way as a sanitary pad or tampon except or some key differences. It’s a natural alternative to pads and tampons and is made from reusable and recyclable medical grade TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomers). Basically you insert it by folding the exterior rim of the cup together and then pressing it inside of you. Once it’s inside it inflates into a balloon like shape and then captures blood flow. Afterwards you can dispose of the blood into the toilet and then rinse the cup under warm water before inserting it again.

Benefits

Free of silicone, latex, BPA and phthalates

Hypoallergenic

Reusable and recyclable

Minimal impact on the environment

Need only to change every 6-12 hours

Unlike pads and tampons, with the cup you can leave it in for up to 12 hours. There is also a reduced risk of toxic shock syndrome, even with leaving it in for up to 12 hours. This makes it ideal for travel and far more easier to use on long car and plane trips.

Economically sound

After the initial purchase (I got mine from a Wellness Festival for $30) you will potentially be able to use the device for every period during the rest of your child-bearing years. This means you will reduce the cost overall for buying pads and tampons. This shouldn’t be underestimated as governments all over the world love to tax women for these essential products.

Easy to wash

Boil it in a jar or pot of boiling water, then let it dry and it’s sterile and ready for reuse.

Challenges

Spillage on removal

Going to a fancy restaurant in Melbourne with some friends, I found myself trying to prize this thing out of me in the bathroom and whimpering in pain while there was a queue at the door and someone saying “Darl…are you alright in there?” In the mean time after pulling out the cup, a cannon load of blood came shooting out all over my light blue jeans, my white lace top, the toilet seat and the floor of the cubicle making it look like someone had been fucking murdered in there. I spent the next ten minutes cleaning it all up and then we all had to leave the restaurant afterwards after everyone saw what happened. In short, the cup doesn’t have any of the absorption as you would have with a tampon or pad, so if your cup runneth over, then you will literally find yourself in a flood of blood, when you take it out.

I recommend using pads or panty liners as well to help with this leakage and have on hand a lot of tissues to capture all of the blood coming out when you release it. Otherwise you may end up in the same situation as me.

Pain

Although the Oi cup has very defined sizing, I recommend being careful with sizing and erring on the side of caution and going for a size lower. That’s because if you are given a larger size of Oi Cup and you try to get this out of you easily when your entire body is seizing up, the pain can be excruciating. As the thing slides into you it inflates outward in a balloon fashion so that it manages to capture the blood. When you go to remove it from you, it remains inflated and so causes immense pain as it comes out.

If you have a very light period or you don’t suffer much from period pain then this won’t be an issue.

Overall I rate the Oi Cup a solid 3/5 because of the dramas I’ve had. I’d like to know what you would rate your Moon Cup or Oi cup and any negative or positive experiences that you’ve had with it.

And to end on a happy note, here’s some guys debating the merits of various options

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Creativity: How David Lynch finds his creative ideas

“Ideas are like fish: you don’t make the fish; you catch the fish.”

The enigmatic film-maker David Lynch has no problem with capturing and exposing his weirdest and darkest ideas to film. In this short animation by The Atlantic, Lynch offers up nuggets of wisdom on creativity for film-makers, artists, writers and creators of all times.

Watching it won’t necessarily make you feel like you understand his films any better, but it will help to do away with some of the more romantic (and as it turns out, destructive) notions about creativity which Lynch wants all of us to do away with.

Myth: Suffering is necessary for creativity.
Reality: Suffering cramps creativity
Creativity could come from anything – like seeing a reflection on a puddle
Enjoy the process – creativity shouldn’t be drudgery
Ideas are everywhere – they are waiting to be caught
Be true to the idea and follow it through and more ideas will spring forth from it.

Travel: Dancing on the ceiling of Berlin

Every Picture Tells a Story: Dancing on the ceiling of Berlin

I took this photo about nine years ago while living in Berlin. During the summer, the city was alive with cultural performances, buskers from throughout the world and the constant optimistic energy of things to come. When I look at how Europe has evolved nowadays it makes me a little sad. I really hope that this same carefree and free-spirited youthful time is available to all young people as a right of passage in the future. There is a sense here of the visceral and vibrant joy and energy. It’s a place and a time that I’ll never forget.

Travel: Dancing on the ceiling of Berlin. Copyright Content Catnip 2010

Starman, Bowie and the symbolism of SpaceX’s new world

David Bowie’s Top 100 Favourite Books http://wp.me/p41CQf-3R

Bowie needs no introduction in his ability to induce wonder, awe and beauty in anyone he touches. And now even after death, his legacy lives on in the form of a mannequin Star Man set to take a silence-filled orbit around our dark solar system and towards its final destination of Mars.

The poetry and beauty of this touch is masterful on the part of Elon Musk and the SpaceX team. The Falcon Heavy test flight had a cinematic quality as it launched a car containing the Space Man/ Bowie mannequin payload into the stratosphere. This has made me excited (for the first time in a very long time) for the future of humanity and for the sum and total of human culture’s influence and innovation.

The great man himself would most certainly approve of this particular narrative arc. I cried when I saw the launch, not because of the launch itself and the excitement it elicited from all the engineers, but rather for the spacey majesty of having Bowie’s Life on Mars as the soundtrack to such an epic achievement of humanity.

Often we don’t realise the significance of these moments until years later. For once a monumental historical moment has occurred that didn’t involve senseless violence or confusion, but rather passion, creativity, innovation and the powerful force of collective human accomplishment.

Travel:Exploring early mediaeval churches in Eirann

I visited this crumbling relic, the largest and oldest remaining church in the Irish village of Glendalough in 2009. It was one of the largest known early Christian churches in Ireland. The church was originally dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul but ceased to be a cathedral in 1214. The large rectangular stones at the bottom may be 10th century in date and the upper stones from the 11th century. (Information taken from an informative plaque at the site of the church).

Entering into these crumbling ruins you gather together a feeling of awe and beauty at the heavenly bodies above and the human lives that have lived long before all of us, existing now below. This place was enchanted and magical because it speaks to the hearts of the people who enter it. There is a sense of the sublime in all of the crumbling ruins and of a cataclysmic joining of pagan mysticism with early Christianity, during a time when the two ways of being weren’t at war with each other, but were finding their way and evolving alongside each other. The magic of the old ways certainly holds more sway for me and for many other people who consider that paganism and being closer to the seasons changing and mother earth is more magical than sitting inside of a church. Although in saying that, there is an unmistakable magic and a hushed reverence about being inside of a church or cathedral. If god resides anywhere it would be underneath of a forest canopy, inside of a thriving reef or in the pews of an ancient cathedral.